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Since late August, the Statesman Journal Editorial Board has been interviewing candidates and ballot-measure representatives for the Nov. 7 election. This editorial is one of the many that the board will publish, giving voters its recommendations.

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Linder, a Salem resident, and Jack Roberts of Eugene want to replace the retiring Judge Wallace P. Carson. Voters so rarely have a chance to fill openings on the state's highest court that this decision deserves extra care.

The court's seven justices rule on cases sent to them from the State Court of Appeals. They also handle a variety of other matters, such as deciding whether the titles of ballot measures are accurate and disciplining lawyers accused of misconduct.

Linder, 53, has a respected record as a public-sector lawyer, a teacher of law students and a writer for law publications.

Most of all, she has served as a judge on the state Court of Appeals since 1997. She has written hundreds of opinions and participated in resolving thousands of cases. She is intimately familiar with the sort of complex legal work that gets appealed to the Supreme Court.

Roberts, 53, brings a far different, but valuable, background. He is the executive director of Lane Metro Partnership, an economic-development agency; in the past, he has been the state's elected commissioner of the Bureau of Labor & Industries and a Lane County commissioner. However, he hasn't practiced law in years.

In interviews, he paints this as a plus, saying his experience would add diversity to the court. It's true that some Supreme Court justices have come from the realm of politics, and Roberts has that distinction. But legal experience should be a key criterion for judging Supreme Court candidates. On that scale, Roberts' record can't compare with Linder's.

One factor has changed since spring: Electing a woman to add diversity to an all-male court no longer is an issue in this race. Gov. Ted Kulongoski appointed Martha Lee Walters to fill a vacancy on the court; she will take office at the end of the month, when Justice William Riggs retires.

Roberts is a credible candidate, but voters should choose Linder because she is the more qualified person for Position 6.

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